FieldrunnersReview

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A little Tower Defense, a little Pixel Junk Monsters... a lot of fun.

By Levi Buchanan

Tower Defense in itself has become a casual game genre. Whether it's any number of clones on portals like Kongregation or Pixel Junk Monsters on the PlayStation 3, the basic formula is always the same: create a gauntlet that reduces enemies to hamburger. Fieldrunners for the iPhone does not stray from the essentials but dresses them up with great production values, such as attractive cartoon graphics. Plus, the game has been recently updated to include new content, such as an additional map and sound effects.

The concept is simple. Wave after wave of enemies streams into the screen via portals around the edges of the map. You must set up a system of towers to destroy these enemies before they infiltrate your base. You start the game with a small bank account that limits the number of towers you can purchase, but each kill drops some coins into your purse. With the extra cash, you can either buy more towers or upgrade your existing ones to increase their deadly potency. Each tower has a different function, though, so you must choose how to use them in tandem to best eliminate incoming threats.

The four towers in Fieldrunners are: Gatling, Goo, Missile, and Lightning. The Gatling Tower is your basic rapid-fire, short-range gun post that's effective at chewing up weaker enemies. The Missile Tower provides long-range offense, but with a slower fire rate. The Goo Tower blasts enemies with sludge that slows them down, making them easier targets for your offensive towers. Finally, the Lightning Tower is the deadliest of all weapons, able to kill weak enemies with a single zap. Each updates improves the towers' efficiency. For example, when you the Lightning Tower twice, it can turn medium-sized enemies to ask with a single bolt. Of course, the Lightning Tower and its upgrades are the most expensive, so you must consider whether or not it's best to build a field with cheaper towers and splurge only when you have a comfortable bank account.

Run the gauntlet, meat!

There are many types of enemies in Fieldrunners. Little grunts gamely run to the base, but as easy pickings. Choppers swoop toward your base and are strong against Gatling towers, so you better have Missile towers to bring them down. Giant robots withstand a lot of punishment, but are slow. These are just a few examples of the foes that spread across the map. As you encounter each new enemy, you must figure out the best means of eliminating it. Slowing them down with a Goo Tower is universally a good idea. But just slowing an enemy does little good if you don't have the hardware to flatten it.

The enemies run along set courses like the lemmings from Disney's True-Life Adventures. If they bump into a tower, though, they will compensate and re-chart their paths to your base. You will not make it past level 40 just drawing up a straight line of towers to pummel the enemies. Instead, fashion a maze on the map by positioning towers in strategic spots. When you really bank a lot of money, you can create elaborate labyrinths can bring your enemies to a crawl. The entrance to your base seems like a mile away as they trudge through a winding path lined with Gatling Towers and Missile Towers. And should they get close enough to the base, maybe a Lightning Tower positioned at the door will finish them off.

There are an unlimited number of ways to approach the challenge. Some won't get you very far, but experimentation is what makes the game compelling and fun. Saving money early on only got me to stage 29. Investing in hardware early and keeping on top of upgrades took me to 48. But mixing these strategies with inventive tower placement (read: making a maze) pushed me up to 66. And with three difficulty levels, there are even more ways to approach the enemy infestations.

Even if you've gorged on the genre, Fieldrunners is still a great play. The enemies are varied enough that you're constantly kept on your toes. (And with the recent update, Subatomic added two new enemies. Apparently, one cannot be slowed by the Goo Tower.) The iPhone touch-screen is also a good control medium for the genre. It's easy to pinch the screen to zoom in and place a tower exactly where you want it. And just tapping a tower brings up an upgrade menu that's easy to read. It's always a pleasure to play an iPhone game without any sort of control-oriented learning curve.

Fieldrunners was reviewed with version 1.1.1.

Fieldrunners

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The Verdict

Fieldrunners rings up at $4.99, which seemed a touch steep when there was only one map. But the recent update makes the game a much easier sell and it looks like Subatmoic will keep the game fresh with additional updates in the immediate future. This is a fun Tower Defense-style game that I have literally sunk several hours into thus far. Highly recommended.